Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Searching for life with space dust      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Following enormous collisions, such as asteroid impacts, some amount of material from an impacted world may be ejected into space. This material can travel vast distances and for extremely long periods of time. In theory this material could contain direct or indirect signs of life from the host world, such as fossils of microorganisms. And this material could be detectable by humans in the near future, or even now.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Hunting Venus 2.0: Scientists sharpen their sights      (via sciencedaily.com) 

With the first paper compiling all known information about planets like Venus beyond our solar system, scientists are the closest they've ever been to finding an analog of Earth's 'twin.'

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Galaxy changes classification as jet changes direction      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A team of international astronomers have discovered a galaxy that has changed classification due to unique activity within its core. The galaxy, named PBC J2333.9-2343, was previously classified as a radio galaxy, but the new research has revealed otherwise.

Energy: Nuclear Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Physics: General Physics: Optics Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics Space: Astrophysics Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Scientists find a common thread linking subatomic color glass condensate and massive black holes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Atomic nuclei accelerated close to the speed of light become dense walls of gluons known as color glass condensate (CGC). Recent analysis shows that CGC shares features with black holes, enormous conglomerates of gravitons that exert gravitational force across the universe. Both gluons in CGC and gravitons in black holes are organized in the most efficient manner possible for each system's energy and size.

Biology: Microbiology Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geochemistry Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Fossil site is 'Rosetta Stone' for understanding early life      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Leading edge technology has uncovered secrets about a world-renowned fossil hoard that could offer vital clues about early life on Earth. Researchers who analyzed the 400 million-year-old cache, found in rural north-east Scotland, say their findings reveal better preservation of the fossils at a molecular level than was previously anticipated.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

'Terminator zones' on distant planets could harbor life      (via sciencedaily.com) 

In a new study, astronomers describe how extraterrestrial life has the potential to exist on distant exoplanets inside a special area called the 'terminator zone,' which is a ring on planets that have one side that always faces its star and one side that is always dark.

Anthropology: Cultures Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Geoscience: Geography Paleontology: Fossils
Published

Indigenous Ashaninka DNA helps geneticists write new chapters of pre-colonial history in South America      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Geneticists have written new chapters in the reconstruction of pre-colonial Americas history after using DNA from the indigenous Ashaninka people from Amazonian Peru. They have discovered previously unexpected levels of genetic variation in this group and uncovered a strong hint that these people were involved in a South-to-North migration that led to the transition from an archaic to ceramic culture in the Caribbean islands.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Webb Telescope captures rarely seen prelude to supernova      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The rare sight of a Wolf-Rayet star -- among the most luminous, most massive, and most briefly detectable stars known -- was one of the first observations made by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in June 2022. Webb shows the star, WR 124, in unprecedented detail with its powerful infrared instruments. The star is 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

ALMA traces history of water in planet formation back to the interstellar medium      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Observations of water in the disk forming around protostar V883 Ori have unlocked clues about the formation of comets and planetesimals in our own solar system.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life Geoscience: Earth Science Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Paleontologists flip the script on anemone fossils      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Billions of sea anemones adorn the bottom of the Earth's oceans -- yet they are among the rarest of fossils because their squishy bodies lack easily fossilized hard parts. Now a team of paleontologists has discovered that countless sea anemone fossils have been hiding in plain sight for nearly 50 years. It turns out that fossils long-interpreted as jellyfish were anemones. To do so, a team of scientists has simply turned the ancient animals upside down.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

The planet that could end life on Earth      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A terrestrial planet hovering between Mars and Jupiter would be able to push Earth out of the solar system and wipe out life on this planet, according to a recent experiment.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Ultracool dwarf binary stars break records      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astrophysicists have discovered the tightest ultracool dwarf binary system ever observed. The two stars are so close that it takes them less than one Earth day to revolve around each other. In other words, each star's 'year' lasts just 17 hours.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

AI draws most accurate map of star birthplaces in the Galaxy      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists identified about 140,000 molecular clouds in the Milky Way Galaxy from large-scale data of carbon monoxide molecules, observed in detail by the Nobeyama 45-m radio telescope. Using artificial intelligence, the researchers estimated the distance of each of these molecular clouds to determine their size and mass, successfully mapping the distribution of the molecular clouds in the Galaxy in the most detailed manner to date.

Anthropology: General Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Jurassic shark: Shark from the Jurassic period was already highly evolved      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Cartilaginous fish have changed much more in the course of their evolutionary history than previously believed. Evidence for this thesis has been provided by new fossils of a ray-like shark, Protospinax annectans, which demonstrate that sharks were already highly evolved in the Late Jurassic.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Baby star near the black hole in the middle of our Milky Way: It exists after all      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have detected the heaviest and youngest infant star ever discovered close to the black hole at the center of our Galaxy. They also identified the region where this 'impossible star' may have formed.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Galactic explosion offers astrophysicists new insight into the cosmos      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope's first year of interstellar observation, an international team of researchers was able to serendipitously view an exploding supernova in a faraway spiral galaxy.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Astronomers discover metal-rich galaxies in early universe      (via sciencedaily.com) 

While analyzing data from the first images of a well-known early galaxy taken by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers discovered a companion galaxy previously hidden behind the light of the foreground galaxy -- one that surprisingly seems to have already hosted multiple generations of stars despite its young age, estimated at 1.4 billion years old.

Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Genetics Biology: Molecular Geoscience: Geology Paleontology: Fossils
Published

Ancient proteins offer new clues about origin of life on Earth      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

By simulating early Earth conditions in the lab, researchers have found that without specific amino acids, ancient proteins would not have known how to evolve into everything alive on the planet today -- including plants, animals, and humans.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Clues about the Northeast's past and future climate from plant fossils      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A team of researchers is working to understand the details of the climate for the eastern portion of the United States from the Miocene, which unfortunately is a blank spot on paleo-climate maps. New findings suggest the future climate will be very close to the warmer, wetter, and more homogeneous climate similar to conditions experienced 5 million years ago.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

A mysterious object is being dragged into the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way's center      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An object near the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy has drawn the interest of scientists because it has evolved dramatically in a relatively short time. A new study suggests that the object, called X7, could be a cloud of dust and gas that was created when two stars collided. The researchers believe it will eventually be drawn toward the black hole and will disintegrate.